Classic Airframes Canberra T.17 1:48 – kit review

Feature article by Gareth Jordan

Intro thoughts

The Canberra T17 has been a long-time favourite aircraft of mine and featured prominently in my early RAF years. I was stationed at RAF Brampton located just a stone’s throw from RAF Wyton. The Canberras were a pleasant daily distraction as they flew around the local airspace going about their business. The T17 always caught the eye more than most with its distinctive nose and its lumps and bumps on the airframe. WD955 the subject of this review was at the time the oldest aircraft in the RAF’s inventory and sported a bright red tail with a lightning bolt passing through it. She was a mount belonging to 360 Squadron a joint electronic counter measures training unit which no doubt had a very interesting war role if the need arose. I was fortunate to have access to this aircraft after the squadron disbanded and before she flew to her current home at a museum over in Norway.

The only way to model a T17 at the time was using an Airfix Canberra with an Aeroclub conversion in 1:72nd, even then it was not easy to get hold of. To my delight Classic Airframes announced they were going to release one in my chosen scale of 1:48. I promptly purchased and set about building this iconic aircraft only for my young son to have a skipping incident sending the model flying quite literally and it disintegrated. To say I was unimpressed was an understatement! I shelved the model and forgot about it until last year. I got the urge to build the T17 again but on looking at the model I had already I decided to look for a new one; these are few and far between and now very expensive. I jumped at the chance to build one as a review and under instruction that it had to be done as the one on the box got on with it straight the way.

Into the box

On opening the box I found the bulk of the kit on just a few sprues and several blocks of resin with the detailed parts required to build the T17. There were three decal sheets with markings for two different aircraft, stencil data and walkways. The instruction sheet was well printed and easily legible. Those that have attempted a Classic Airframes kit before will know that the plastic is very hard to work with but it makes a sturdy kit when completed.

Full Construction of the Classic Airframes Canberra T.17 1:48